Broncos won’t commit to Von Miller long term

“A lot is made of the quarterback position. It’s really hard to sit here and answer. We don’t talk about the middle linebacker or the left corner position,’’ Fox said. “I think, right now, just enjoy the moment. It’s a team game, and we’re doing well as a team. I don’t like speaking too much of the future. I’m happy for each day.’’ When a reporter jokingly retorted with a question about whether star rookie Von Miller had done enough to be the strongside linebacker in 2012, Fox cracked: “Exactly. He’s the strongside linebacker now. We’re in the now.’‘

Of course, this quote from Fox is ridiculous. The Broncos are committed to Von Miller for 2012, 2013, and beyond; everyone knows it. Saying so, however, would force them to give a concrete answer on the Tebow questions. Or perhaps Fox is being serious and he's of the same opinion as Rod Smith always was: no one is safe, every position is a competition, and the team is always looking to upgrade at every position.

Which then begs the question, if the Broncos believe they can upgrade at quarterback in 2012, why would that be any different than, let's say, cornerback or long snapper?

My good friend Doug Lee takes a lot of grief for supposedly being biased against Tim Tebow, while my other buddy,Ted Bartlett, is lauded weekly for being in support of Tebow. All I see, though, are two guys who simply disagree on the fundamental issue of the ugrade at the position of quarterback. One thinks they can upgrade in 2012; the other does not. If they were having this disagreement about Andre' Goodman, no one would care much, if at all.

John "Sam Elliott" Fox is correct--a lot is made of the quarterback position.

TJ reacts to the Broncos' 34-17 victory over the Ravens in Week 15 of the 2012 season.

Boydy,

my point was nothing more than the talent level of this team is not equal to that of a super bowl contender for the long-term.

they are not built like a perennial playoff team and barring the fluke or miracle runs that are absolute outliers they will need to upgrade the overall talent level.

my point was that they won&#8217t be replacing Tebow in 2012, because they need the resources to upgrade the team in general.

the time will come when Tebow is replaced or given the franchise, but when it happens the overall talent will have to be increased either way or it will be irrelevent

Posted by David Wilkie on 2011-12-15 04:11:56

Heh, TJ and McGeorge. I&#8217d missed reading these discussions.

Posted by Drizzt396 on 2011-12-14 21:16:13

I wish the media would stop pushing the FO as to whether Tebow is the QB of the future. John Elway, John Fox, and the Broncos are pushing to win the next game. That has their whole attention at this time. Even Tebow said that is all he is concerned about right now.

They have already told us that evaluations will be made after the end of the season. This is not the end of the season. Go Broncos. Beat the Patriots.

Posted by LarryB on 2011-12-14 17:09:53

Sorry, McGeorge, but that&#8217s an opinion, just like your opinion that DT was a bad receiver at the beginning of the season, and just like Doug&#8217s opinion that the Broncos can upgrade at QB. It may seem to more people that Goodman can be upgraded, but it doesn&#8217t switch the opinion to objective fact.

And really, that&#8217s not the point, since you are doing your typical change the premise tactic that you always do. The point is, QB is like every other position on the roster. If the FO feels like it can upgrade, they should do it.

Posted by TJ Johnson on 2011-12-14 17:07:22

Denver can use a 2012 1st or 2nd round pick to upgrade from Andre Goodman. That isn&#8217t an opinion, it&#8217s a fact.

Posted by McGeorges alter ego on 2011-12-14 16:44:20

I think the issue really comes down to this:

We know what Tim Tebow is doing NOW.

What we don&#8217t know is what Tebow will do in the FUTURE.

The former is the short term, the latter is the long term. What the Broncos need to be doing, thus, is a plan that accounts for the current short term but that can give them options for the long term.

Therefore, what you do is go with Tim Tebow as the starter in 2012 and do not draft a QB in the first round. Instead, you sign a veteran backup in free agency, one who can help mentor and can fill in for brief periods if Tebow gets injured, then you draft a QB in later rounds who can be the fallback option in case Tebow doesn&#8217t develop as you expect.

For those who point to the Broncos&#8217 current success, I&#8217m glad that&#8217s happening, but keep in mind that what&#8217s happening now doesn&#8217t guarantee it will happen in the future. Just look at the AFC West last year and how the narrative was &#8220the Chiefs have turned things around, the Chargers just need to get off to a better start, the Raiders went unbeaten in the division and the Broncos are at rock bottom&#8221 and how so many pundits believed that narrative must mean that the AFC West winner would be &#8220anybody but the Broncos.&#8221

In other words, enjoy the now, but don&#8217t let the now cloud your judgment of what the future may or may not hold.

Posted by Bob Morris on 2011-12-14 16:14:19

First Base: Who

Second Base: What

Third Base: I Don&#8217t Know

Left field: Why

Center field: Because

Pitcher: Tomorrow

Catcher: Today

Shortstop: I Don&#8217t Give a Damn

Who cares anymore. This back and forth, while funny, is pointless. McD would do the same thing, so lets just focus on enjoying the season, and hopefully the playoffs.

Or not&#8230.

Posted by SpaceCowboy on 2011-12-14 15:17:19

David Wilkie,

You are what your record says you are. They are a 8-5 football team. You can only line up and play, and win, the games that are put in front of you.

I just dont get the need to find fault with everything this team does. Drives me nuts.

If the Denver Broncos win the AFC West, they WILL be Division Champions. If they win the AFC West they WILL be a play off team. You under rate this team greatly. Do that at your own peril.

Posted by Boydy2669 on 2011-12-14 13:13:34

@lonestar:

Only issue is they need a drop back passing prospect that can: 1) win when Orton couldn&#8217t; 2) work even better given the current state of the O-line; 3) survive the fallout from benching/trading Tebow.

Luck is the only one that could fill roll 1 in Year 1. RG3 could fill role 2, maybe, but more he wouldn&#8217t be killed like most of the QBs in the draft. No QB in the draft can fill role 3.

They can&#8217t take an early round QB in the draft. Maybe Round 2 if someone really good falls (but, then, why did that happen?) Any Round 1 QB pick by Denver would be well advised to force a trade. You&#8217ll get paid the same somewhere else and have a prayer. You&#8217d be destroyed by being forced into the starter job in Denver in 2012 and any agent worth his salt would know that. Think of the message the front office is sending, &#8220well, winning games that we would otherwise lose, while giving us a solid running game, filling the stands and being a good image for the franchise just isn&#8217t enough to even be given an off season to improve&#8221.

Tebow is the starter next year barring a career-ending injury to him.

Also, I think the only places nuts enough to trade for Tebow are Seattle & Washington. Mostly Seattle as they&#8217re going to pick in the 15 range (so they&#8217d need to move up to get RG3).

As for &#8220franchise QB&#8221, I&#8217ll put it this way.

An &#8220Elite QB&#8221 is a potential Hall of Famer that can get you through games you really shouldn&#8217t. There are 5 right now: Brady, Peyton Manning, Brees, Rodgers and Big Ben.

Near Elite are Romo and Eli Manning (though he&#8217s playing himself into the Elite range, given how crappy his running game has been this year).

A &#8220Franchise QB&#8221 is one that can win you games, is probably the best player on your Offense, but they can&#8217t will you into victories when the rest of the team isn&#8217t doing well. They lack a specific Elite skill that the guys above them possess, but they aren&#8217t hurting you for being around. There&#8217s about 10 guys in this category.

A Franchise QB can&#8217t really be replaced easily. You end up having to be terrible for a year to get a rookie QB time to learn the NFL game, unless you have an insane Defense, and it&#8217s only a chance you can do better for it.

So, yes, Tebow does look like a Franchise QB that&#8217s 11 starts into his career, with a completely missed off season and in the middle of a mechanics transition. He has Elite game-ending ability (I&#8217m going to start calling him the second coming of Jim Kelly for a while), Elite agility and Elite vision in the running game. Along with a strong sense of not forcing balls into spots that he shouldn&#8217t.

What he lacks is very well known, but they are things that can, in fact, be fixed and adjusted. He&#8217s already shown he can do all of them, just not consistently yet. Which, for every other young QB, they&#8217d be given the chance to do that.

Actually, I&#8217m pretty confident in saying that Tebow will be the best QB from his draft class. At minimum because the lockout probably has killed the careers of Bradford & Colt McCoy, while Tebow, while hurt by it, has found a way to get his progression back on track.

Posted by OutInOregon on 2011-12-14 10:41:43

The Tebow things brings out the worst of both sides. However there is most definitely a large portion of the Broncos fan base that is on the fence.

There are a few facts to consider about the Broncos.

1) they have a few glaring holes and a few long-term question marks. Even a guy like DJ Williams is a huge question mark with his age, contract and the free agent status of his backup.

2) This team has improved dramatically, but this is not a playoff team. They may make the playoffs and may even pull out a victory, but they belong at 6-7 right now. No chance you can watch the Miami game and the Bears game especially and think this type of thing will happen year to year

3) They will be picking very late in the draft.

The bottom line to me is that anyone who believes Tebow is a franchise Quarterback is absolutely lieing to themselves. However by virtue of his wins, he gets another year no matter what. This team wont be a playoff team next year without improvement from Tebow and a few others as well as a couple nice moves this offseason (and re-signings).

so he gets another year and maybe they can add another piece or two. They will draft a QB in rounds 2-4 and if Tebow isn&#8217t the guy in 1-3 years, then maybe that draft pick will be the guy.

Either way there are two bridges to cross with this team (1. overall talent and 2. QB position). You can only answer one of them this offseason and this team will never get a sniff of Luck, Griffin or Barkeley without adding future drafts and players to the equation.

Posted by David Wilkie on 2011-12-14 09:04:47

I believe that if John E has a chance at getting Luck he will make the move..

Unless Tim becomes the drop back passer that he lusts for there will be another first round pick used for one in 2012..

Personally I do not believe that a pocket passer is the only way to win football games. I do believe that Tebow is helping to redefine the way NFL football is going to be played in the future.

Whether it is in DEN or not is yet to be seen.

Posted by lonestar on 2011-12-14 08:38:47

Or the even easier answer:

The only way Tim Tebow isn&#8217t starting for Denver next year is if God is really excited about all the intriguing NBA matchups to kick off the season on his birthday, and somehow suddenly becomes disinterested in the Broncos&#8217 season.

Posted by BroncosDC on 2011-12-14 08:23:04

Although it&#8217s just one disagreement, it&#8217s hardly little.

We&#8217ve already had, essentially, a controlled experiment. Loose game after game with &#8220league average&#8221 Kyle Orton, and win game after game with the great disequilibrium known as Tebow.

Sure, not every variable has been controlled for. By the same token, can we really be sure that smoking is bad for the lungs?

Posted by oorange blood on 2011-12-14 07:58:02

How about the easier answer:

They know only slightly more than everyone else and really have to figure it out in the off season. It&#8217s an assessment of Tebow&#8217s ability to perform what they need him to do and whether what he does really well works for them.